Right: Former President Donald Trump speaks during a break in his civil business fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig/Left: Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media about an indictment of former President Donald Trump, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, at an office of the Department of Justice in Washington. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite.
Former President Donald Trump has asked for a halt to his election subversion trial in Washington, D.C., while he works to appeal a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan that found he is not immune from prosecution under claims of presidential immunity or on constitutional grounds, according to a 1-page brief entered on the docket on Thursday.
Trump’s attorneys John Lauro and Todd Blanche elaborated in a separate 11-page filing, telling Chutkan her rulings against him on Dec. 1 were issued “incorrectly.”
Chutkan, in the lengthy decision, found that presidents, despite their years in service as the nation’s topmost official, are not granted with the “divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens.”
“Whatever immunities a sitting President may enjoy, the United States has only one Chief Executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass,” she wrote. “Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability. Defendant may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken in office.”
As for claims that the indictment by special counsel prosecutors is improper on constitutional grounds, specifically, under the First Amendment, Chutkan was equally unimpressed with Trump’s arguments.
The First Amendment does not protect speech “used as an instrument of a crime,” she wrote.
She also denied his request to dismiss on grounds of double jeopardy and shooed away his claim that he could not be indicted on charges related to Jan. 6 because the Senate failed to convict him when he was impeached after the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump is facing four charges in the conspiracy case alleging that he engaged in a sweeping criminal effort to defraud the United States and overturn the certification of the 2020 election. He pleaded not guilty this August.
In his pursuit to stop proceedings while the appeal on Chutkan’s ruling is made, Trump’s lawyers argue that they have the support of U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
Lauro cites Coinbase v. Bielski, in which the high court found: “The sole question here is whether the district court must stay its pre-trial and trial proceedings while the interlocutory appeal is ongoing.”
“The answer is yes. The district court must stay its proceedings,” Lauro wrote.
This is a “longstanding” procedure, he continued.
“Coinbase explicitly recognizes this conclusion, citing appeals of official immunity and double jeopardy as uncontroversial circumstances where an automatic stay of proceedings in the district court is required,” he added. [Emphasis original]
Trump cannot be subject to discovery in the Jan. 6 case until the immunity appeal is resolved either, he wrote.
“Concerns regarding judicial resources from continued litigation during the pendency of the appeal — including financial, reputational, and political costs to President Trump and this country — are significant,” the motion urged.
Calling the court’s overwhelmingly typical requests of criminal defendants to submit pretrial disclosures “intrusive,” Lauro then requested Chutkan decide within seven days.
Prosecutors, the motion notes, have opposed the request.
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